01 July 2017

Birthday Deer

Today is Canada Day and Kraftin' Kimmie is hosting a Krafty Krop. The first challege is a birthday card, in honor of Canada's birthday, so I decided to use Dorothy and the colours of the Canadian flag, red and white.

Supplies

These are not affiliate links just the products I use and where you can find them, too.

Putting It Together

Since I made this as part of an online crop, I decided to go into more detail about the creation process. That does mean, though, that this post is going to be a bit picture heavy.

For the colouring on this project, I used Distress ink with waterbrush. I smush the minis on to a plastic sheet and use them from there. I also used some Perfect Pearls for accents. For this project, I'm trying out Artist's Loft student watercolour paper. Student paper is lighter weight, usually 90lbs, than the more common 140lb. I often use the lighter weight watercolour paper for stamped images because the student paper is smoother. The bumpiness (or tooth) of the heavier papers can make it difficult to get a crisp stamping, and the student paper has the same type of sizing so can handle a decent amount of water. The Artist's Loft (Micheal's brand) paper compared to the similar Strathmore 200 and Canson Value, both 90lb student watercolour paper: Artist's Loft is a bit more water sensitive but other wise decent and a few dollars less.

I stamped the image with a light brown to do a 'no lines' colouring. The 'no lines' technique does still use stamped lines, it just hides them in the painting or colouring vs having black lines of the stamping showing.

I coloured the deer with Antique Linen as a base colour and added shadowing and defining lines with Vintage Photo.

I used Tea Dye to colour the deer, adding more or less to shade or highlight.

I used Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso to deepen the shadows and contouring. I added shadowing to the white areas with Weathered Wood.

I started the grass with a wash of Mowed Lawn.

I added swipes of Peeled Paint...

...and blended to give the grass more depth of colour.

I used Crushed Olive to add the grass detail from the stamp.

I used Forest Moss to add shadowing in the grass.

When I started to paint the hat and noise maker, I realised I missed the inside of the ears. I used Antique Linen with shadowing and fur lines with Vintage Photo. For the hat and noise maker, I used Worn Lipstick, Candied Apple, Mahogany and Weathered Wood. I touched up the eyes with Black Soot.

I then added Perfect Pearls, Confetti White and Forever Red, for some sparkle and to finish the painting.

I added some Tumbled glass to the sky and I dry fit an oval die over the image to find the right size.

I decided to use the July sketch for KKS turned on its side.

I trimmed the image with the oval die.

I dry fit the oval in a dotted square with a stencil.

I die cut a white gold metallic panel and then used washi tape to secure it to my work surface. I also used the washi to mask off the dot lines.

I used more washi to secure the stencil over the panel. The stencil has a "happy" in the middle that will be covered by the oval.

To match the colours in the hat and noise maker, I added Forever Red to transparent gloss texture paste. Using texture paste with the stencil will also add a little texture.

I mixed the Perfect Pearls and texture paste using the palette knife on parchment paper.

I spread the mixed paste over the stencil.

The stencil all filled in.

I removed the stencil...

... and then the washi. I immediately took the stencil and palette knife to the bathroom to wash it off.

I used the heat tool to dry the texture paste and then dry fit the oval and squeeeeed for the cuteness.

I looked in my stash for matting and chose this dark red wood-grain foiled paper.

I trimmed the red panel and I looked though my stash of ribbons and decided to use a couple I had gotten as free samples several months ago. I dry fit the pieces.

To save some of the lovely red paper for another day, I cut out the middle which would be hidden by the stenciled panel.

When the red is adhered to the white, none can see the middle is missing.

I adhered the ribbon and lace together so I could use them as a single piece.

I anchored them on the back of the panel with washi tape.

I decided I wanted matting for the oval. Since I wanted a narrow mat, I traced the die I used to cut the deer. I traced it on the back since the panel (shown in a couple pictures down) is dark and not pencil friendly.

After tracing, I fussy cut the oval.

I added the oval to the brown glittered matting.

I dry fit the oval one last time before starting to assemble the card.

Inside the card, I decided to add a dotted detail. I used a dot border stamp, VersaMark, and Forever Red for sparkle. After stamping with VersaMark, I brushed on the Perfect Pearls and brushed off the excess with a clean soft brush. To set the Perfect Pearls, I sprayed a water mist in the air and waved the card through it.

I like using foam mounting tape, but it's not cheap, so I cut it into half or thirds before using it.

Because of the bulk of the ribbon/lace, I used foam mounting tape on the lowest panel. I added the tape around the edges and one piece in the centre to prevent it being crushed down.

I also added foam mounting tape to the back of the oval.

I built the layers of the card and finished the project.

Inside, too, I used a sentiment from a more recent KKS set. (A set that's stinkin' cute on its own.)